Sustainable Thorium Nuclear Fuel Cycles: A Comparison of Intermediate and Fast Neutron Spectrum Systems
Abstract
This article presents analyses of possible reactor representations of a nuclear fuel cycle with continuous recycling of thorium and produced uranium (mostly U-233) with thorium-only feed. The analysis was performed in the context of a U.S. Department of Energy effort to develop a compendium of informative nuclear fuel cycle performance data. The objective of this paper is to determine whether intermediate spectrum systems, having a majority of fission events occurring with incident neutron energies between 1 eV and 105 eV, perform as well as fast spectrum systems in this fuel cycle. The intermediate spectrum options analyzed include tight lattice heavy or light water-cooled reactors, continuously refueled molten salt reactors, and a sodium-cooled reactor with hydride fuel. All options were modeled in reactor physics codes to calculate their lattice physics, spectrum characteristics, and fuel compositions over time. Based on these results, detailed metrics were calculated to compare the fuel cycle performance. These metrics include waste management and resource utilization, and are binned to accommodate uncertainties. In conclusion, the performance of the intermediate systems for this self-sustaining thorium fuel cycle was similar to a representative fast spectrum system. However, the number of fission neutrons emitted per neutron absorbed limits performance in intermediatemore »
- Authors:
-
- Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE); USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE), Fuel Cycle Technologies (NE-5)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1265662
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1245305; OSTI ID: 1339354
- Report Number(s):
- BNL-107943-2015-JA
Journal ID: ISSN 0029-5493; AF5832020; NEAF322
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC05-00OR22725; SC0012704; AC02-98CH10886; AC02-06CH11357
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Nuclear Engineering and Design
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 289; Journal ID: ISSN 0029-5493
- Publisher:
- Elsevier
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
Citation Formats
Brown, Nicholas R., Powers, Jeffrey J., Feng, B., Heidet, F., Stauff, N., Zhang, G., Todosow, Michael, Worrall, Andrew, Gehin, Jess C., Kim, T. K., and Taiwo, T. A. Sustainable Thorium Nuclear Fuel Cycles: A Comparison of Intermediate and Fast Neutron Spectrum Systems. United States: N. p., 2015.
Web. doi:10.1016/j.nucengdes.2015.04.015.
Brown, Nicholas R., Powers, Jeffrey J., Feng, B., Heidet, F., Stauff, N., Zhang, G., Todosow, Michael, Worrall, Andrew, Gehin, Jess C., Kim, T. K., & Taiwo, T. A. Sustainable Thorium Nuclear Fuel Cycles: A Comparison of Intermediate and Fast Neutron Spectrum Systems. United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nucengdes.2015.04.015
Brown, Nicholas R., Powers, Jeffrey J., Feng, B., Heidet, F., Stauff, N., Zhang, G., Todosow, Michael, Worrall, Andrew, Gehin, Jess C., Kim, T. K., and Taiwo, T. A. Thu .
"Sustainable Thorium Nuclear Fuel Cycles: A Comparison of Intermediate and Fast Neutron Spectrum Systems". United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nucengdes.2015.04.015. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1265662.
@article{osti_1265662,
title = {Sustainable Thorium Nuclear Fuel Cycles: A Comparison of Intermediate and Fast Neutron Spectrum Systems},
author = {Brown, Nicholas R. and Powers, Jeffrey J. and Feng, B. and Heidet, F. and Stauff, N. and Zhang, G. and Todosow, Michael and Worrall, Andrew and Gehin, Jess C. and Kim, T. K. and Taiwo, T. A.},
abstractNote = {This article presents analyses of possible reactor representations of a nuclear fuel cycle with continuous recycling of thorium and produced uranium (mostly U-233) with thorium-only feed. The analysis was performed in the context of a U.S. Department of Energy effort to develop a compendium of informative nuclear fuel cycle performance data. The objective of this paper is to determine whether intermediate spectrum systems, having a majority of fission events occurring with incident neutron energies between 1 eV and 105 eV, perform as well as fast spectrum systems in this fuel cycle. The intermediate spectrum options analyzed include tight lattice heavy or light water-cooled reactors, continuously refueled molten salt reactors, and a sodium-cooled reactor with hydride fuel. All options were modeled in reactor physics codes to calculate their lattice physics, spectrum characteristics, and fuel compositions over time. Based on these results, detailed metrics were calculated to compare the fuel cycle performance. These metrics include waste management and resource utilization, and are binned to accommodate uncertainties. In conclusion, the performance of the intermediate systems for this self-sustaining thorium fuel cycle was similar to a representative fast spectrum system. However, the number of fission neutrons emitted per neutron absorbed limits performance in intermediate spectrum systems.},
doi = {10.1016/j.nucengdes.2015.04.015},
journal = {Nuclear Engineering and Design},
number = ,
volume = 289,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu May 21 00:00:00 EDT 2015},
month = {Thu May 21 00:00:00 EDT 2015}
}
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